


Seafoam Green Nail Poish

by mousie3 (ErinKatz)



Series: The Lion Years [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:44:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4529475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinKatz/pseuds/mousie3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy looks speculatively at Matt’s fingernails and then at Foggy’s. “I can see how red works for you,” she says to Matt. “And Foggy, I have this seafoam green polish that would match your complexion really well if you ever want to try it.” Or Matt, Foggy, and Darcy are undergraduates together at Columbia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seafoam Green Nail Poish

Foggy isn’t surprised when a pretty girl with curly brown hair and boxy black glasses knocks on the door of their dorm room and asks for Matt several weeks into their junior year. Matt has his headphones on and is focusing intently on his Braille reader, but the room is so tiny that Foggy isn’t surprised when he slips the headphones off and comes to the door almost as soon as their visitor says his name.

“Hi Matt,” their visitor says. “I’m Darcy Lewis. I’m in your Greek Mythology course.”

Matt looks thoughtful for a moment and then says, “You’re the one who had the great insights into Athena’s creation of Pandora last week.”

“Well, I definitely had a lot to say about it, so I’m glad you appreciated it,” Darcy says. Foggy thinks that someday he is going to have to talk to Matt about just how good his voice recognition is.

“I did,” Matt says sincerely. Foggy goes back to his desk, wondering, as always, if his best friend means to be perpetually flirty or if he is oblivious to the way he talks to everyone.

“Okay, your appreciation of my understanding of Athena is awesome, but that’s not why I’m here,” Darcy says, then pauses. “Look, I noticed that our professor writes a lot of stuff on the board that she doesn’t say out loud. You know, while I was talking about how standard readings of Pandora and Athena parallel many men’s views of women today, she was writing notes about the history of different Athena myths. I didn’t know if you knew that or if you had someone taking notes for you or if the professor was giving you typed notes, which she totally should be, or anything. But if you’re not getting the notes and you want them, I actually take really thorough notes and I think they’re neat enough for Columbia’s handwriting recognition software. So I don’t mind if you ever want to borrow my notes,” she finishes.

Foggy mentally awards Darcy gold stars for helping Matt out but being respectful about it and for being annoyed with the professor on Matt’s behalf. He tells himself that he’s not really jealous of the surprised and grateful look Matt is almost certainly directing at her.

“I didn’t know that,” Matt says, “and I would certainly appreciate borrowing your notes if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I have the notes so far with me now,” Darcy says, holding a thin binder out to Matt until he closes his hand around it. “You can just give this back to me in class on Monday.”

“Thank you,” Matt says. “Maybe we could get lunch together after class.” Foggy stifles a sigh. He likes Darcy so far, but he knows where Matt’s tone leads and he’s none too excited to see his best friend in another disastrous relationship with another beautiful person. And all of Matt’s relationships end disastrously. He’s just being a good friend, really.

“I’d like that,” Darcy says. Foggy stifles another sigh.

 

Darcy leaves and Foggy says, “I can’t believe that professor didn’t tell you she was putting notes on the board that she wasn’t reading out loud.” 

Matt opens his mouth, but Foggy continues, “And don’t say it just slipped her mind because she’s getting paid a lot of money to teach that class and teaching means not forgetting stuff like that.”

“Well, she’s not really getting paid to teach,” Matt says. “She’s getting paid to give conference talks and let Columbia cash in on her name recognition form that one book she wrote.”

“You’re not wrong, but you are completely missing the point,” Foggy says. “Can’t you just be upset that someone’s screwing you over for once? Or at least let me be upset?”

Matt smiles and says, “Feel free to be as upset as you want on my behalf. I’m going to be happy that Darcy noticed and brought me her notes. Here, can you look at these and tell me if the software will actually be able to read them?” He hands Foggy the binder full of Darcy’s notes.

Foggy takes the binder and flips to a random page. The writing is surprisingly neat, more rounded than average, but never trailing off into the typical mush of speedwriting. “This’ll work,” he tells Matt. “She has nice handwriting.”

“Good, I’ll go scan the notes tomorrow,” Matt says. “Actually, we should both go over to Butler Library tomorrow and get started on our criminal justice papers.”

“I would point out that those papers aren’t due for two weeks, but I know that won’t deter you, so yes, I will save you from the misery of studying alone,” Foggy says.

 

They both go to lunch with Darcy on Monday. Matt asks Foggy to come, says that he wants to actually introduce him to Darcy this time. Foggy knows that he’s going to feel like the third wheel, but he can’t say no to spending time with Matt, can’t really say no to Matt at all.

He doesn’t end up feeling like the third wheel. Darcy is just as interested in talking to him as she is in talking to Matt. She even laughs at his butcher story while Matt is rolling his eyes.

“Seriously though, I get it,” she says. “My parents are happy I’m here, but they’re still disappointed that I’m not taking over their dry-cleaning business. I think they’re scouting out the neighbors’ children as potential successors.”

“Not your siblings or cousins?” Foggy asks. “Two of my cousins are happily training as butchers now.”

“Only child of two only children,” Darcy says. “Matt, what about you? What did your parents really want you to do?” Foggy reminds himself that Darcy obviously doesn’t know Matt’s history and therefore he shouldn’t be upset with her for asking about his dead parents.

Matt doesn’t answer for a moment and then says “Well, my dad was a boxer and he really wanted me to do something that didn’t involve fighting.” 

“And you interpreted that to allow being pre-law?” Darcy asks. “I’m pretty sure lawyers are just as vicious as boxers.” Foggy has witnessed enough mock debates to know this is true; Matt is particularly vicious.

“I blame Foggy,” Matt says. “I was all set to be a history major and then maybe a professor but then this guy comes along and convinces me to take this seminar on constitutional law with him and them he dragged me to mock trial with him for moral support.” Foggy can practically hear the air quotes, but Matt is smiling.

“He’s leaving out the part where he aced the class and won most of our practice debates,” Foggy says. “Admit it, Murdock. I have the best ideas.”

Matt’s smile widens and Darcy laughs. “You two are hilarious,” she says. “Hilarious and adorable and lucky.”

“Lucky?” Matt asks, while Foggy is busy trying not to blush at the idea of him and Matt being adorable together.

“You’re lucky you got paired with each other as roommates. My freshman roommate was a pretentious brat. My current roommate’s way better, we’re actually good friends, but she has practically moved in with her boyfriend this year and I never see her. It’s lonely.” 

“That sucks, but you’re more than welcome to hang out with us when you’re roommate is ditching you for her boyfriend. Who is obviously not as cool as you,” Foggy says. Matt nods. 

“Ah, thanks,” Darcy says. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a honeymoon phase thing right now. I need to tell her that I miss hanging out together. That said, I don’t really mind not having to share our tiny dorm room.”

“We’re juniors,” Foggy says. “How is our housing this cramped?”

“First, we drew terribly unlucky numbers in the housing lottery and second, we go to school in New York City. Sacrifices have to be made,” Darcy says.

“It’s worth it, though,” Matt says. “This is a great city.” 

“And I’m cutting you off,” Foggy says, before turning to Darcy. “Matt has a serous love affair with the city. Don’t let him get started talking about it.” 

“Forget best friends, you two are like and old married couple,” Darcy says.

Foggy freezes, but Matt grins and says, way too seriously, “And what would you say to a ménage à trois, Ms. Lewis?”

“I would say that it is way, way too soon for that,” she answers, laughing. 

Foggy is pretty sure that his face is the same color as a tomato. He tries to will the blood away from his skin, then says, “I guess we’ll have to settle for friends, then.” 

“That’ll work,” Darcy says. “Friends, I can do.”

“Then friends it is,” Matt says. “To friendship,” he declares, raising his glass of milk.

“To friendship, you wierdo,” Foggy says, raising his.

Darcy rolls her eyes, smiles, and then clinks her glass against both of theirs, saying, “To friendship and weirdos.”

 

The next Monday finds, Foggy Darcy, and Matt scarfing down sandwiches in Avery during the tight half hour when none of them are in class. Darcy had struck Foggy as a fairly happy person when he met her before, but now she is practically walking on air. He has never been good at ignoring that kind of emotion.

“So what’s the good news?” he asks her in between rapid bites of panini.  
“I had a really good conversation with Melanie,” she says. “I don’t care if it sounds dorky – I’m really happy right now because my best friend understands that I’ve missed her and now we’ve made plans to spend more time together.” 

Matt raises his eyebrows. “You’re seriously worried about us thinking friendship is dorky?” he asks, leaning back and slinging an arm around Foggy’s shoulders.

“Darcy laughs. “Point,” she says.

Foggy tries not to lean into the warmth of Matt’s arm. “That’s fantastic,” he says.

“Okay, so talking about Melanie, a group of us are going to see a play that her sister wrote next Friday,” Darcy says. “I’ve actually read the script and the dialogue is really strong, even if you can’t see the action. I’d love for you guys to come if you want. It’s small and off Broadway and I can get you tickets for ten dollars.” 

“That sounds really fun,” Foggy says. “What do you say, Matt?”

“Count us in,” Matt says.

 

After the play is over, Melanie goes to the opening night cast party with her sister and most of the rest of the group heads back to school, citing problem sets and midterms. The theater is in Hell’s Kitchen, not the Theater District, though, so Foggy insists on introducing Matt and Darcy to his favorite bar. He presents Josie’s run down façade with far more flourish than it merits, then says, “Full disclaimer, I’ve never actually drank here because Josie is really strict about carding, but I came here with some of my older cousins and I can vouch for her lemonade.”

“You’re sure about this?” Matt asks. “Because this place smells like about a million health code violations.”

“Oh come on, don’t rain on Foggy’s rite of passage,” Darcy says. “Besides, what’s a little rat poison between friends?”

Foggy rolls his eyes and narrates for Matt, “I’m rolling my eyes at both of you.”

Josie does recognize Foggy, but denies his request for free drinks for an old family friend. She pours them three beers when their IDs pass muster.

“So this is the watering hole of the Manhattan Nelsons,” Darcy says. 

Foggy appreciates that she already differentiates between the Manhattan Nelsons and the Rockaway Nelsons. “Mostly the younger ones,” he says.

“This actually seems fitting,” Matt adds.

“You know his family pretty well,” Darcy comments to Matt.

Matt replies, “Yeah, he dragged me home for our first Christmas break…” 

Foggy breaks in, “And my family pretty much adopted him. I think my mother likes him better than me and I know my sisters do.”

“That’s only because I never painted their bicycles,” Matt says, despite Foggy elbowing him in the ribs.

Turnabout’s fair play, so Foggy counters, “My younger cousins only like him better because he lets them paint his nails. To be fair though, he does pull of red polish surprisingly well.”

Darcy looks speculatively at Matt’s fingernails and then at Foggy’s. “I can see how red works for you,” she says to Matt. “And Foggy, I have this sea foam green polish that would match your complexion really well if you ever want to try it.”

“It’s still a no on the nail polish,” Foggy says, “but sea foam green I can do. Could I pull off a shirt in it?”

Absolutely,” Darcy says, at the same time Matt says, “It couldn’t be worse than that floral monstrosity you still wear sometimes.”

“You can’t even see the shirt; you are not allowed to mock it,” Foggy says. “Besides, it’s Hawaiian – that’s totally a valid fashion choice in the summer.”

“If you say so,” Matt says. Darcy laughs at both of them.

By the time they’re making their only slightly wobbly way towards the 1 train, Foggy knows that Darcy favors dark purple nail polish for herself, that she has a beloved tabby cat named Sarah, and that she and Melanie met while they were both comping the Spectator. Darcy knows that Foggy has a teddy bear in his dorm room that was a present from his oldest sister, that Matt listens to the Harry Potter audiobooks when he can’t concentrate on schoolwork, and that Matt and Foggy’s birthdays are only three weeks apart so they celebrate them together.

Foggy also knows that Darcy would actually be good for Matt and that having her around would almost make her dating Matt worth it. Matt never stays single long and if Foggy gets any say in who he dates, he’d like it to be Darcy. Well, Darcy wouldn’t be his first choice, but she’s a solid, if distant, second.

 

Foggy may have realized that Matt and Darcy are perfect for each other, but apparently neither of them have, so Foggy is going to have to be a bit more proactive about getting them together. When one of his Japanese Literature classmates invites him to a party, he convinces Matt and Darcy to come with him.

Their host lives in Woodbridge Hall, so the party’s a bit less cramped than most Columbia dorm parties and there’s a spectacular view of the Hudson. It’s still a crowded mess of sweaty bodies, dim lights, and loud music with a beer pong table taking up a quarter of the space and a table of cheap liquor and soda nearly hidden behind a wall of bodies. 

Foggy lets himself be pulled into a game of beer pong by one of his former teammates form intramural crew, leaving Matt and Darcy to observe and chat with each other. His beer pong teammate is on his third round of the game, so despite his earlier wins and Foggy’s supposedly impeccable aim, they lose the round spectacularly. Feeling decidedly tipsy, Foggy looks around, doesn’t see Matt and Darcy and decides they must be off somewhere acknowledging their chemistry and compatibility. He congratulates himself for giving them the opportunity to do so.

At this point, their host decides to play bartender, mixing the worst shots she can think of and daring her guests to drink them. Foggy joins in for a round of green apple liquor and tequila and then a round of whiskey and sugar and then a round of gin and marshmallow flavored vodka. After that, he stops keeping track of the terrible things that he is drinking. His head is spinning in a carefree and floaty kind of way when Ben walks in.

Ben and Foggy had been lab partners in the physics class that Foggy had foolishly taken to fulfill his science requirement. As a pre-med student, Ben had actually known what was going on and had been really nice about helping him. Foggy knows that he has a thing for competent, helpful people and it hadn’t hurt that Ben was tall and well-muscled and had adorably messy dark hair. Nothing had ever happened between them, but Foggy is on a roll with matchmaking tonight, so why shouldn’t he reap some of the benefits himself? This has nothing to do with the fact that dating Darcy will make Matt completely unavailable – nothing at all.

He pours himself a rum and coke, takes a sip, realizes that it is mostly rum, and figures that’s okay. Ben comes over to pour himself a drink too, and Foggy says hi, only swaying into Ben’s space a little.

“Oh, hey, Foggy,” Ben replies, “haven’t seen you all year. How have you been?”

“Better without science,” Foggy says. He tries to gauge how much he’s slurring and can’t tell. That’s probably not a good sign. “Well, not without you, I actually miss you. We should hang out more, but physics sucks.” 

Ben laughs. “Can’t say I miss it. I’m going to be a doctor, not a physicist. Are you still doing Model UN?”

Foggy nods, remembering the day he had come to class, ecstatic that he and Matt had led their team to victory the weekend before. Ben had congratulated him and kind of hugged him in a one-armed sort of way. It had been a good day.

“What country are you representing this year?” Ben prompts, reminding Foggy that this is a conversation.

“Nigeria,” Foggy says. “Different than being Belgium, actually more interesting.”

“Doctors without Borders is trying to set up a project in Nigeria this summer. We’d be running a malaria clinic there,” Ben says. “You should tell me more about your research for Model UN sometime; I’d love to know more about the country before I travel.”

“Definitely,” Foggy agrees. He notes absently that his cup is empty and leans around Ben to set it on a table. He overbalances and Ben catches his arm. He leans into Ben’s side. Ben has a very nice side.

“Foggy?” Ben asks, shaking his arm a little. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Foggy says. “I’m fine.” He makes no effort to move. He really is fine staying right here.

“Alright?” Ben takes a step back, but keeps his hand firmly on Foggy’s arm.

“Why did we never…?” Foggy trails off because even this drunk, he is worried about being too forward. “I mean, you’re hot, I’m hot, I like you, you like me.”

“Why did we never hook up?” Ben guesses. “Because you and Matt had something going on and I never wanted to get in the middle of that. Never thought you wanted me to either.”

Foggy feels tired all of the sudden, tired and queasy. He leans back into Ben. “Matt and I never…” he says. “We’re just friends.”

“Oh,” Ben says, sounding surprised. “There’s still something there, though.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Foggy says. “Matt doesn’t want that.”

“If you were sober, I would debate you on that,” Ben says. “Right now, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Come on” He shifts Foggy around so he can wrap an arm firmly around his shoulders. Foggy appreciates the arm. Ben has nice arms.

He must voice that last that last thought aloud because Ben says, “If you still think that when you’re sober, text me. Text me either way – we should get lunch and discuss Nigeria sometime. But if you also want to admire my arms when you’re sober, we can discuss that too.”

“Okay. I’ll text you,” Foggy agrees, then notices that they’re walking down a staircase. “Where are we going?” he asks.

“You are going back to your room to drink lots of water and get some sleep,” Ben says, opening the front door of the dorm and steering Foggy outside.

“Murdock, I’ve got something of yours,” Ben calls and Foggy looks around and spots Matt and Darcy on a bench, close enough that maybe Foggy’s brilliant matchmaking worked.

Matt is already jumping up to stand in front of Ben and Foggy. “Foggy! What happened to you?” he asks.

“Lots of vodka and whiskey with hot sauce,” Foggy slurs. “Ben and I are going home.” Matt seems to bristle at that.

“No, you and Matt are going home,” Ben says slowly. “You’re going to drink lots of water and take a few Advil before you go to sleep.” Foggy wraps his other arm around Ben and snuggles closer because it’s nice that Ben is being so nice. He thinks that Matt and Ben are talking over his head. 

And then there are gentle hands on his arms, Matt’s hands, pulling him away from Ben. Foggy let’s himself be pulled and wraps his arms around Matt instead, burying his face in Matt’s neck. Somehow, that’s even better.

“I’d apologize for them,” Darcy says, reminding Foggy that she’s here too, “but I’m honestly not sure what’s going on. I’m Darcy, by the way.”

“I’m Ben, and this is pretty typical, so don’t worry about it,” Ben says.

“That actually explains a lot,” Darcy says as she unwraps Foggy from Matt. “Come on drunky, we’re getting you home.” 

“Okay,” Foggy nods and the world tips dangerously. Matt’s arm tightens around his waist and that feels good. “Goodnight, Ben,” he calls.

“Goodnight, Foggy,” Ben says.

Foggy doesn’t remember much else just hazy recollections of Matt rubbing his back as he threw up in the bushes outside their dorm and Matt tugging his shoes off after he face planted on his bed.

 

The next morning, Foggy wakes up to a painfully bright room and Matt turning pages far too loudly. His head feels like an elephant stomped on it and his mouth tastes like something threw up in it. Oh wait, that was Foggy. Last night comes rushing back to him in fragments and he whimpers as he rolls over to bury his face under his pillow.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Matt says, voice pitched low.

Foggy groans in response. 

“I have ibuprofen, water, orange juice, and that gross, knock-off Gatorade you like,” Matt says. “Any of that sound remotely appealing?”

“Vitamin Water is not knock-off Gatorade and it’s not gross,” Foggy says. “I’ll take the orange juice and the ibuprofen.”

“You should at least sit up to drink this,” Matt suggests, pressing a small bottle into Foggy’s hand.

“Yes, mom,” Foggy groans, but pulls himself into a slightly more upright position before swallowing half of the juice.

Matt waits another few moments before asking, “So what happened last night?”

Foggy buries his face in his hands and says, “Okay, fine, cliff notes version because this is embarrassing. Laila made a bunch of shots, each one more horrible than the last and I drank all of them. Then Ben showed up and I flirted very badly with him and he shot me down. The end.”

“So Ben, is that something you actually want to do or…?” Matt trails off.

“Or was that just a bad, confused, drunken idea?” Foggy finishes for him. “I honestly don’t know. I had a bit of a crush on him when we were in class together, but I hadn’t thought about it for a while. Kind of a moot point after last night – he’s definitely not interested and I completely embarrassed myself.”

“He wasn’t interested because you were drunk. He might be when you’re sober. He should be,” Matt says heatedly. Foggy can’t tell if he’s upset about Ben liking him or Ben not liking him. His head hurts too much to think about it. “You should ask him out if you want to.” 

“I’ll think about it,” Foggy says. “I’m pretty sure we made plans to get lunch and talk about Model UN and Doctors without Borders. But enough about me. Did you and Darcy have fun? You didn’t really stay long.” 

“It was kind of loud,” Matt says. Foggy winces – he should have known better than to drag Matt to a dorm party. Then Matt continues, “But Darcy and I had a great conversation. It was fun.”

Foggy smiles; that’s why he did it. “So you and Darcy?” he asks. “Could that be a thing?”

“I don’t think so. She’s just a friend. Actually a good friend,” Matt says, sounding surprised, as though having good friends is still a relative novelty. “I don’t see us dating, though.”

“Really? Why?” Foggy asks.

“I don’t know. I just don’t see us going that way,” Matt replies. “Now are you getting out of bed at some point? A shower wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Foggy rolls his eyes and tells Matt, “I’m rolling my eyes at you and your delicate senses,” but he detangles himself from his blankets and gets to his feet.

 

Matt doesn’t see himself dating Darcy, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to or that they wouldn’t be good for each other. Foggy thinks that he might have better luck convincing Darcy to make the first move. It can’t hurt to try.

He texts Darcy and suggests getting dinner at John Jay on Thursday. If Matt happens to have class Thursday evening that conflicts with all of dinner, that’s entirely coincidental.

Darcy and Foggy find two empty seats at the end of a crowded, long table and dig into their inauthentic Chinese cuisine.

“Does Matt never get dinner on Thursdays?” Darcy asks.

“I always grab him a salad and milk. He actually likes healthy food,” Foggy says, holding up a Tupperware container and an empty water bottle.

“Isn’t that against the rules?” Darcy asks.

“I haven’t gotten caught yet and not feeding your students is a way bigger offense than sneaking food out of a dining hall. I could argue our case and win,” he replies.

“Already taking down unjust laws. I like it,” she says.

Foggy grins, then says, “Talking about Matt, did you guys have fun Saturday night?” 

“Yeah, talking to friends is always fun,” she says.

“That’s pretty much what Matt said too,” he replies. “Sorry about getting drunk and ditching you guys.” 

Darcy shrugs. “Trust me, I’ve done worse. If you knew me freshman year, you wouldn’t be bothering to apologize.”

“I’m still sorry. And I’m still glad you and Matt had fun. You guys seemed cozy,” he says, and smiles even though he wants to grimace.

Darcy shakes her head “That’s not a word I would use,” she says.

“No?” Foggy asks. “It’s not a bad thing. I mean, you two could be good together.” He winces at how awkward that sounds.

“Is this coming from you or from Matt?” she asks.

“Oh, me. Definitely just me. I mean, I mentioned it to Matt, but he didn’t say much, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not interested or that you wouldn’t be great together.” Foggy realizes that he is babbling and abruptly shuts his mouth.

“Look, Foggy, I’m not interested in Matt. I’m not just saying that because it sounds like he’s not interested in me. I’m saying that because as much as I like him as a friend, I don’t want to date Matt Murdock,” Darcy says firmly, but quietly enough that he has to lean in close to hear her over the din that the rest of their table is making.

“Okay,” he says. “If you’re sure.”

Darcy scowls. “I am sure. I get that you want to do something nice for Matt and maybe you even think that you’re doing something nice for me, but I really don’t appreciate you not listening to me. I know what I want better than you do,” she says.

Foggy feels his face heating and takes a deep breath before saying, “Sorry, Darcy. I didn’t mean to be a jerk about it. I just thought that, maybe… Nope. You do know better than I do on this.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Darcy says. “Do you maybe want to talk about why you’re so invested in Matt’s love life? Or not. Feel free to tell me it’s none of my business.”

Foggy’s first instinct is to snap something about this being completely pot-kettle when it comes to making assumptions about other people’s romantic interests, but he stops himself. He hasn’t talked to anyone except his oldest sister about his feelings for Matt and he actually wants to talk about them. Darcy seems like she’ll understand and not say anything to Matt. Besides, he won’t be telling her anything that she hasn’t already guessed.

So he takes another deep breath and looks down at his plate and says, “Okay, so I like Matt, but that’s never going to happen. But I was also trying to be a good friend by setting him up with you.”

“Has Matt told you that he isn’t interested? Have you ever asked?” Darcy asks.

“Yes and yes,” he says and she winces. “Well, sort of and not really,” he amends. “The first day I met him, I called him a handsome wounded duck and he was super awkward about it.”

Darcy nearly laughs “I think you know that doesn’t qualify as you asking or as him saying no,” she says. “Handsome wounded duck, though? Never mind, I totally see it.”

“Glad I’m not the only one,” he says “Mostly though, he’s my best friend and I don’t want to jeopardize that.”

“Would asking him out really risk your friendship? She asks. “What’s the worst case scenario here?”

Foggy takes a moment to consider it, then says, “Matt does the whole Catholic guilt thing really thoroughly. He might be more committed to guilt than he is to Catholicism. So if he turns me down, he’s going to feel guilty about it and then I’m going to feel bad about that and we’ll be in an endless spiral of making each other miserable until we can’t be around each other anymore.”

“Well, that sounds a bit melodramatic, but I see what you’re saying. Do you think you could ask him out in a low-key way that wouldn’t jumpstart the guilt spiral?” she asks.

“Maybe,” he concedes. “”Do you think that there’s any sort of chance that he’s interested?”

“I’ve only known you guys for like six weeks and figuring out how someone feels based on how they act is really complicated, but here’s what I’ve seen,” she says. “When you’re not around, Matt talks about you pretty much nonstop. He lights up when you walk into a room. I know it sounds cliché, but he is always so happy to see you. And he was growling like a territorial tomcat when you walked out of that party with Ben I halfway expected his hair to stand on end. Like I said, it’s hard to tell exactly how someone feels about someone else, but it’s completely obvious that you and Matt care about each other a lot.”

“Wow,” he says. “So you think I should go for it?’

“I think that’s up to you,” she says, “but I also think that you two are so solid with each other that it’s going to take way more than some mismatched feelings to mess that up.”

“Thanks, that helps,” he says. “And seriously sorry about trying to push you into dating Matt earlier.”

“Anytime,” Darcy says. “And don’t worry about it. It’s really impossible to be upset with you for trying to make everyone around you happy.”

 

Foggy doesn’t say anything to Matt the next day or the next or the day after that. On Sunday, he justifies not talking to Matt by texting Ben instead: he can really only be expected to have one emotionally challenging conversation in a day. He and Ben meet up for lunch and discuss Nigeria. Foggy apologizes for his drunken flirting. Ben kindly does not ask him if he’s still interested now that he’s sober.

When he gets back to the dorm room, Matt is back from Sunday Mass. 

“How was lunch with Ben?” Matt asks.

“Fine. Not quite as awkward as I was expecting it to be,” Foggy replies. “He was really decent about the whole thing.”

“Decent, huh?” Matt says neutrally. “Does that mean you two might be seeing more of each other?”

“Maybe, but we still have to get past the weirdness of me drunkenly hitting on him,” Foggy says.

“Is he still being weird about that? Does he not want to go out with you?” Matt asks, sounding offended on Foggy’s behalf.

Ben is a good guy. And Matt was apparently growling at him last weekend. It isn’t really fair to let Matt hate Ben. So Foggy says, “I think he would be open to dating me if I asked him again. I just realized I don’t really want to date Ben. It was a bad, drunken idea.”

“Really? Why?” Matt asks. “He’s not a bad guy and you seemed really into him.”

“First, I was really drunk. And second, not a bad guy isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement,” he replies.

“Wait, you’re not not dating him because I’m not enthusiastic enough about him, right?” Matt asks. “Because if you want to, you should go for it.”

“Thank you for that, but no, this isn’t about you not approving of Ben,” Foggy says.

“Then why not? You liked him last year and you were sober then,” Matt says.

On the one hand Foggy doesn’t want to talk about this and Matt will drop it if he asks him to. On the other hand he probably isn’t going to get a better opportunity to segue into the conversation he wants to have with Matt. He thinks about what Darcy said and decides to go for it.

“I had a bit of a crush on Ben, still do, kind of, but there’s someone else I’m more interested in dating, so that wouldn’t be fair to Ben,” he says.

“Who? Darcy?” Matt asks. “Is that why you were trying to set me up with her? Were you feeling guilty about liking her? Why would you feel guilty about that? I’m fine with you dating Darcy. Really, she’s great.”

“It’s not Darcy,” Foggy says. “Look, this isn’t a big deal and if you don’t feel the same way, that’s fine and I definitely won’t be weird about it. Especially because our friendship is the most important thing and we need to keep being friends no matter what. But it’s you,” he finishes in a rush.

Matt doesn’t say anything for a few long, gut-wrenching moments and then he smiles as wide and bright as Foggy has ever seen him smile. “You like me?” he asks. Like it’s a question.

Suddenly Foggy feels uncertain again. “Yes, but it doesn’t have to change anything. We can still be friends and I’ll be happy and not weird. But if you ever wanted…”

He’s cut off by Matt grabbing him in a tight hug. “If I ever wanted what?” Matt practically purrs from his new location right next to Foggy’s ear. Matt flirts all the time. He flirts with Foggy all the time. This almost feels like his usual, meaningless seduction, except Foggy trusts that he wouldn’t do that right now. So he says, “If you ever wanted to go on a date with me.”

“I’d like that,” Matt answers and presses his lips to Foggy’s. It’s barely even a kiss, but it feels amazing.

“Oh, good,” Foggy breathes and wraps his arms around Matt before leaning back in for a proper kiss. Matt opens his mouth almost immediately, so Foggy swipes at his lips with his tongue.

Matt pulls back, laughing, and Foggy isn’t sure whether to be offended or to laugh too.

“Sorry,” Matt says. “It’s just that there for a moment, you reminded me of a cat…”

“Matt,” Foggy cuts him off, “this is our first kiss. Stop talking.”

Matt snakes a hand through Foggy’s hair and pulls him back into the kiss. This time, there’s a gentle give and take on both sides as they feel and taste each other.

“You know, I’d like to do this again, a lot more,” Matt says. He still hasn’t relaxed his grip on Foggy’s waist or moved his hand form his hair.

“Me too,” Foggy says. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are love! [You can also visit me on tumblr!](http://erinkatz.tumblr.com)


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